Fall Crush Order

It's official. We just put in an order for 400 lbs of of red and white grapes through MDCrush in Mt. Airy, Maryland. This will be our first attempt at making wine from fresh Virginia grapes and will be the first of hopefully many successful vintages.

Our preliminary order consists of 100 lbs of Vidal Blanc, 200 lbs of Carbernet Franc, and 100 lbs of Merlot. According to Rob, a really laid back guy who runs the operation, the White grapes usually come in sometime in September and the Red grapes sometime in October. The time frames can be pretty broad and they usually only have a week window of when the harvest will actually take place. This is primarily due to the overall seasonal conditions, and when the vineyards think it is ideal to harvest the grapes. As with many things in business - sans WalMart - we are at the beck and call of our suppliers.

According to Rob, each 100 lbs order should net us approximately 6 gallons of wine, give or take. However, as Rob noted and I have found out, there is often a lot of variance on this amount, based on grape and cluster size at harvest, how hard you press the grapes, and how much is lost during racking and aging. Rob was quick to point out that we can always add a few pounds if need be to round up our supplies as close to 6 gallons as possible.

As Mike mentioned in the previous post we will be making a standalone white, Vidal Blanc, which should be ready to drink by fall or winter of 2009. The Red wine, which will actually be a blend of the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon is our Ebrietas reserve and should be available in 2010, so get your order in soon!

Details on how you can get your hands on some of Fraser Hall Wine Company's first vintage will be coming soon.